The immune responses triggered by inflammatory stimuli must be tightly regulated. Unrestricted inflammation is associated with immune disorders. How extracellular inflammatory stimuli signal to the nucleus to restrict inflammatory gene activation is poorly understood. NF?B and STATs are two important families of transcription factors that are activated by a wide variety of pro-inflammatory stimuli to induce gene expression. Protein inhibitor of activated STAT1 (PIAS1) inhibits immune responses by selectively blocking the binding of NF?B and STAT1 to gene promoters. We have recently identified a novel signaling pathway in which pro- inflammatory stimuli activate the IKKa-mediated phosphorylation of PIAS1 for the immediate repression of inflammatory gene activation. The overall goal of this research proposal is to characterize the IKKa-PIAS1 signaling pathway in the regulation of immune responses. Specifically, we will characterize the molecular basis of the IKKa-mediated PIAS1 Ser90 phosphorylation by mutational analysis and kinase assays. The role of other members of the IKK family and the specificity of IKKs in mediating PIAS1 Ser90 phosphorylation will be examined using IKK knockout cells. Next, we will investigate how PIAS1 phosphorylation regulates the activity of PIAS1. We will examine the role of PIAS1 Ser90 phosphorylation in the ligand-induced promoter recruitment of PIAS1. We will analyze the role of PIAS1 SAP domain in the Ser90 phosphorylation-dependent promoter recruitment of PIAS1. We will test if Ser90 phosphorylation is sufficient to target PIAS1 to gene promoters using Ser90 phosphomimic mutants. The promoter binding region(s) of PIAS1 will be examined by ChIP assays and mutational analysis. Finally, we will generate a PIAS1 phosphorylation-defective knockin mouse model to study the physiological function of PIAS1 phosphorylation in response to pathogenic infection. These studies will investigate a novel molecular signaling mechanism for the negative regulation of immune responses, which will enhance our ability to design rational therapeutic strategies for the treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases. RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH: The immune responses triggered by inflammatory stimuli must be tightly regulated. Unrestricted inflammation is associated with immune disorders and cancer. This proposal is to study a newly identified signaling pathway that functions to balance immune responses. These studies will enhance our ability to design novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of immune diseases.